Temperature-controlled containers, such as, for example, wine or food coolers, are generally designed to maintain items at specific temperatures or to help preserve the freshness of food products which are stored therein.
Typically, wine coolers are designed to refrigerate bottles of wines that are not already open, in order to keep wine within a temperature range that is ideal for consumption and/or conservation. Once a bottle of wine has been opened but not emptied, such as when the wine is served by the glass, the wine bottle is usually left on a counter top and is thereby subjected to warmer surrounding ambient temperatures. The wine's temperature will become warm, which can be detrimental to its taste and enjoyment.
Alternatively, an opened wine bottle may be stored in a refrigerator or in a bucket of ice. In this case, however, it becomes difficult to efficiently control the temperature of the bottle of wine.
Wine coolers are most often designed to provide storage for bottles of wine in a generally horizontal orientation, usually in rows of supports stacked one on top of the other. This is done to minimize the vertical space and to maximize storage capacity. However, horizontal storage may favor wine spillage when a partially filled wine bottle is returned to the wine cooler.
Additionally, an opened wine bottle may necessitate more space when provided with a removable seal. It may further require a specific vertical storage orientation to be more readily accessible when, for example, the bottle simply needs to be identified, or when the bottle is corked with metering devices.